PHOENIX (AP) - The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded contracts totaling nearly $1 billion for removal and replacement of vehicle fencing with pedestrian fencing along two sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Corps of Engineers said in a statement Wednesday that 46 miles (74 kilometers) of bollard-style barrier will be installed near Columbus, New Mexico and 11 miles (18 kilometers) of bollard-type barrier will be installed in a Border Patrol sector centered on Yuma, Arizona.

The statement said SLSCo. of Galveston, Texas, got a $789 million contract for the New Mexico work and that Barnard Construction Co. Inc., of Bozeman, Montana, was awarded a $187 million contract for the other work.

The Corps said the fencing will help "impede and deny illegal border crossings and smuggling of drugs and humans.

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